Caraway Hall, Women’s Dormitory, Arkansas Polytechnic College, Russellville, Arkansas
1942 postcard
Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
Walks Through History
Tour of Arkansas Tech University:
Caraway Hall is a brick building with Colonial Revival styling, built in 1934 with funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), later known as the Public Works Administration (PWA). It is roughly H-shaped, with a central three-story section with a gabled roof and end chimneys, which is flanked by two-story flat-roofed wings, one longer than the other. Caraway Hall was… built during the period covered by the historic context of The Evolution of the Public School System in the Arkansas Ozarks, 1920-1940 by William D. Baker. It stands as an outstanding example of a large brick masonry dormitory building with an irregular “HW-shaped plan designed in the Colonial Revival style (mainly the absolutely symmetrical composition of the front facade and the semi-circular, columned Classical central entrance portico, including its four Doric columns that dominate the composition).
Senator Hattie Caraway dedicated the building on October 18, 1935, during the campus’s annual “Dad’s Day” celebration. The Russellville Courier-Democrat twice reported in error that the new residence hall was to be named in honor of Hattie, whom according to one of the reports, “aided Tech officials in securing funds for construction.” While a logical assumption, it could not have been more wrong. College officials had indeed considered naming the building after her, but chose instead to name it after her late husband, Senator Thaddeus Caraway, who had also been a faithful friend to Tech.
Built at a cost of $87,000 ($2,100,458 in 2017 dollars), it was a three-story, 100-bed dormitory with a spacious 98-by-38
foot reception area that accommodated student activities. In the summer of 1945, Caraway Hall had become so overcrowded that the faculty apartments and part of the Girls’ Domestic Science Building were converted into girls’ dormitories. In the spring semester of 1972, in response to a decline in college enrollment, Caraway Hall was closed, and was not reopened until an enrollment surge in 1982. The building underwent major repairs and upgrades in 1995, and in the fall of 1996, Caraway Hall became a sorority dorm with 24-hour visitation, and currently houses 88 women.
Caraway Hall was placed on the National Register on September 10, 1992.
Caroway was renovated again in 2005.
See current info at the ATU Caraway Hall page.